What College Basketball Coaches Really Need To Win This Year?
We’re officially starting college basketball season. Practices started, Midnight Madness happened for a majority of schools. So with the season here, it’s officially preview season and we’ll be looking at a bunch of different things heading into the season. There will be the traditional top-25, best players list, conference previews and all that jazz, but we’ll also go more in depth, looking at different offensive and defensive sets and what makes teams so consistently good. We’ve been breaking down a team per day and we’ll keep doing that, but we’ll also branch out to some other ideas.
I don’t love the term hot seat. It’s never fun watching a coach lose their job or have to talk about it on a daily basis. That said, it’s part of the job. It’s part of sports. So with that in mind, we’ll take a look at some coaches this year that need to win. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean winning the national championship or something crazy like that. It’s all relative to the school, so for some it’s just getting to the NCAA Tournament, some it’s the second weekend, etc. Let’s get into it. These are the coaches that need to have some success this season to keep the fan base happy. Along with the coaches I’ll take a guess at what I think they need to achieve in order to keep the fan base happy.
Steve Alford (UCLA) – A Sweet 16 visit
Perhaps the one coach that everyone agrees is on the hot seat and has been for what seems to be the last 4 years or so. He had a strong year with Lonzo Ball and company there before losing in the First Four. His year isn’t off to a great year with Shareef O’Neal being out for the year to heart problems and Alex Olesinski missing 2-3 months. But, there is talent on this roster. He has one of the best young bigs in Moses Brown. He has Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands. Alford needs to finish top-2/3 in the Pac-12, make a run in the Pac-12 Tournament and make the Sweet 16. Some UCLA fans will still be freaking out, but it’s at least a decent season to build on with a relatively young core.
Steve Wojcikowski (Marquette) – Top-4 in Big East and a NCAA Tournament win
Wojo finally has what seems to be his best roster at Marquette. He finally has some balance which seems to be something he hasn’t had. What I mean by that is he doesn’t have 42 guards and 1 big like he had last year or the opposite. More importantly than perhaps the results is some resemblance of defense. If he can’t stop anyone this year then obviously the results don’t happen. Fans are starting to get a big anxious at Marquette and if Wojo can win a game in the NCAA Tournament and finish top-4 in the Big East, it would be a fine season. Obviously, you want more, but we’re focusing on what realistic goals should be.
Chris Mullin (St. John’s) – Make the NCAA Tournament
St. John’s won the press conference the moment they hired Chris Mullin. The prodigal son returned back home to lead St. John’s back to relevance. This is now his fourth season at St. John’s and he’s never finished higher than 8th in the Big East and his best record is 16-17. With Mustapha Heron likely eligible this year, there’s no reason that this team isn’t a tournament team. Even if Heron is forced to sit out this year, there’s enough talent to make the NCAA Tournament.
Danny Manning (Wake Forest) – Finish above .500
I don’t know if that will be enough to keep Wake fans happy (hi, Dad. I know you’re reading this. It’s better than Jeff Bzdelik, stay calm.), but Danny needs a .500 season. Two years ago it looked like Danny had this thing rolling and changing back to the Skip Prosser or at least Dino Gaudio days. They made the NCAA Tournament. He turned John Collins into a first round pick. They were one of the most fun offensive teams in the country. Manning was bringing in pretty big recruits. Hell, he’s still doing this – look at Jaylen Hoard. That said in 4 years he’s never finished higher than 10th in the ACC. He has just one winning season. There’s been departures that didn’t really make sense and hurt the growth of the program, so if it’s another losing season Wake fans will be hoping for a change.
Richard Pitino (Minnesota) – Be a bubble team and no off the court issues
Similar to Danny Manning, Pitino seemed to have gotten Minnesota back to relevance. They won the NIT in the first year he was there. Two years ago they made the NCAA Tournament. Last year was off to a great start and then there was a combo of injuries, suspensions for off the court stuff and then just bad basketball play. First off, Pitino needs to keep an eye on his players and avoid any sexual assault or domestic violence charges like we saw with this program before. Now, on the court stuff? There’s still Jordan Murphy. There’s still Amir Coffey. There’s still Dupree McBrayer and Isaiah Washington. He needs to at least be a bubble team here and that still may not be enough since the AD that brought him in was fired.
Mark Turgeon (Maryland) – Make NCAA Tournament and show player development
I know Maryland fans are fed up with Mark Turgeon, but he’s not going to get fired. Maryland isn’t going to get rid of him just yet. Now, here’s what you need to see out of Turgeon. Player development. That’s been the biggest complaint when watching Maryland teams. You see the potential early in the season and you keep waiting to see them get better as the season goes on. That just hasn’t happened yet. With the young core and top recruiting class coming in, you need to see these guys continually get better as the season goes on. It would also help to make the NCAA Tournament again after missing last year.
Tim Miles (Nebraska) – Make the NCAA Tournament
Tim Miles has always had a weird relationship at Nebraska. He did get an extension after last season when Nebraska was one of the biggest surprise teams in the country for the 2020-21 season. That said, people were still questioning Miles since he’s made the NCAA Tournament just once in six seasons. But, with a top-25 team coming into the year and looking to build on last season there is no reason to think Nebraska won’t make the NCAA Tournament. If they miss this year you may hear more Nebraska fans questioning Miles. Personally, I’d let him coach out his contract.
Ernie Kent (Washington State) – Hope
There’s not a lot of hope for Ernie Kent. He’s at probably the toughest job out of the major conferences in college basketball. It’s a miracle as to what Tony Bennett did there – just showing how damn good of a coach Bennett is. The Pac-12 is pretty open this year and Robert Franks could be good enough for Washington State to at least finish like 9th? If it’s bad though, Kent will likely be gone.
Dave Leitao (DePaul) – Be competitive in Big East and finish better than last
Leitao is in his second stint at DePaul. The problem here though is DePaul has finished 9th, 10th and 9th in the Big East since he took over. On the flip side though, they just need to be competitive here. DePaul is bringing in a relatively monster class (especially for DePaul) next season. They currently have the No. 15 recruiting class and a new arena. If DePaul can win a couple of games it shouldn’t, we should see Leitao hold on to his job without any problem.